The Question
by Bluewater7
Summary: After attending a ten year memorial service for those who died in the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry asks Ginny a question that she never had to worry about finding the answer to.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other character in the Harry Potter Universe. If I was J.K. Rowling, I certainly would not be putting this here._

The Question

By: BlueWater7

Harry smiled as he stood in the doorway of his daughter's room. He had just finished putting three-year old James in bed and two-year old Al had fallen asleep not to long ago. Now Ginny was sitting in Lily's room, rocking the two-month old baby to sleep. Ginny was still wearing her black dress from the day's events and Harry was still in his black dress robes.

It was May 2nd, 2008. Ten years had passed since the war against Voldemort had ended. Ten years since The Battle of Hogwarts. Ten years since Harry had killed Voldemort. And ten years since Fred, Tonks, Lupin, and so many others had died fighting for their freedom.

"It's nice that Bill and Fleur decided to have Victoire's party tomorrow instead of today." Ginny said absently from her spot. Harry nodded. "Victoire understands. I think she would have been upset if no one was happy at her party."

"The kids would have been." Harry said, walking into the room and sitting on the ground. Ginny nodded.

"All except for Teddy. Some of the others might have understood, but Victoire and Teddy are the only two old enough to really understand."

"Ginny," Harry said. "I want to ask you something."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"Nothing." Harry said quickly. "Honestly. I'm all right. It's just that I wanted to know something."

"Are you going to ask it or am I going to have to guess?" Ginny teased. Harry hesitated.

"Ginny, what would you have done if I had died during the battle?"

Ginny stopped rocking. Harry waited for an answer as she sat frozen. "I think it would depend. Did you defeat Voldemort?"

"No."

"Was it the time you went into the Forbidden Forest? Or after, in the Great Hall?"

"Does it really matter where?"

"Yes." Ginny said curtly. "Because the response will be slightly different."

"Why?" Harry asked. "Either way I'm dead and Voldemort lives. Where's the difference?"

Ginny closed her eyes and thought back to the battle. "When I heard Voldemort saying that you had died, I hoped that he was lying. When I saw you in Hagrid's arms, I almost lost my head. I had just lost Fred. I hadn't seen you since Bill and Fleur's wedding. You were the reason why I was such a troublemaker that year. I had to reform Dumbledore's Army with Neville and Luna because it was a way to show others in the school that there was still hope. I wanted to be the one that could say that I had helped keep up the spirits and had helped keep others safe."

"You did. Neville told me what you guys had to deal with."

"I know that. But I also wanted to prove something to myself. I needed to prove to myself that I wasn't just the youngest Weasley. I didn't want to be remembered as part of the family. I wanted to prove to myself that I was strong enough to be with you." Ginny opened her eyes and looked at Harry with the same fierce look she had given him when he had first kissed her. "I needed to prove to myself that I was a strong person."

Harry nodded. "I think I understand, Ginny, but you know I wish that you didn't."

"That's just it, Harry. I didn't want to say that I was always protected. First by my parents, then my brothers, and now you. I wanted to say that I could handle anything and that I was just as capable of protecting everyone as you were." Ginny gave a dry laugh. "I guess it's a good thing my brothers were there."

"Why?" Harry asked. "You still need to tell me the difference."

"I'm getting there." Ginny assured her husband. "Bill had to grab Ron, Charlie stopped George, and Percy had to body slam me into the ground to prevent us from trying to go after Voldemort."

"You mean like Neville did?" Harry asked. Ginny nodded.

"Here's where the difference start. If it had happened when you went into the forest, everything would have stayed the same until Mum killed Bellatrix. I don't think anyone would have been able to put up a shield charm to protect as fast as you did."

"You don't know that."

"You're right. But this is what I think would have happened, remember?" Ginny started to rock again. "We would have lost both Mum and Fred. I'm sure Voldemort would have had the chance to gloat about us losing. Blood-traitors and half bloods and Muggle-borns. It would have ended up being a chance for him to prove pureblood superiority. We had already lost two family members and we had Hermione with us. Voldemort probably wouldn't have hesitated to kill our entire family."

"I don't think he would have been able to kill any of you. You forgot how I 'died' to protect all of you."

"Well, let's say that it didn't work. Or that one of the other Death Eaters did it. You only protected us from Voldemort, not everyone else."

"Alright. Let's say it happened during my fight with Voldemort in the Great Hall. So your Mum's safe."

Ginny grinned. "We'd probably have had a better chance of getting out alive. Hermione and the adults probably would have had some great spell that would have allowed all or most of us to escape. We all would have had to go into hiding. Mum probably would have fussed a lot over Ron, Hermione, and me. George and I would probably be in the worse shape. George would have been broken and traumatized from losing Fred and I would have lost both Fred and you."

"I broke up with you before that, though." Harry muttered to himself. "And I left without saying goodbye."

"Which time?" Ginny asked. "When you left the wedding, I understood. You didn't have time and it was important that you did. I even understood when you didn't take your cloak off to say goodbye before you headed into the Forbidden Forest to face Voldemort. I knew that you were there and I knew that you paused by me. I knew that you wouldn't tell me goodbye out loud, but I could tell you wanted to. It was a good thing, too. I looked at it like a promise."

"A promise?" Harry asked confused. "What silent promise did I make you?"

"You were promising me that you would come back." Ginny said simply, standing to place Lily in her crib. "You didn't say goodbye, so I held you to the promise of coming back to me so that we wouldn't have to."

Harry nodded. "I guess that that makes sense."

Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and gave him a quick kiss on the check before they left Lily's room. As they headed to their bedroom, Ginny continued with her ideas.

"I still had my D.A. coin on me. I'd probably use it to start an underground resistance, with Ron and Hermione's help this time. Neville and Luna might have been hiding somewhere else, so it would have been a good way to keep touch with them, providing none of the Death Eaters ended up with any. Hermione would probably be worried about how we were supposed to get rid of Voldemort. After all, it's a fair bet to say that Voldemort would have made another one of those Horcrux things after he killed you."

"And no one would have known where it was." Harry added. "That would have been a problem."

"Yeah. Until the day Draco Malfoy contacted me with one of the D.A. coins telling me that he knew where it was and that he would help me destroy it and Voldemort. I would've been skeptical, but agreed to do it with him. We save everyone and fall in love and get married and I'd be sitting here with him with our children. Then one day, he'd ask me what I would have done if you had survived." Ginny teased.

"That's not funny."

"I don't know what would have happened after that. I'd probably spend the rest of my life trying to bring Voldemort down. And if he did die, then I probably would have lived alone. I've never loved anyone the way I love you, Harry."

Ginny kissed Harry with a smile. She didn't want to think about him dying. Right now, she wanted to think about the people that had died ten years ago. She wanted to wish that Tonks and Remus were still around to raise Teddy and to laugh with her and Harry when it was needed. She wished Fred were around to still pull pranks and run Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. She wanted Colin to see how much Dennis had grown and was making a name for himself as a magical photographer to honor Colin.

Everyone that had died during the Battle of Hogwarts smiled down on Ginny and Harry, appreciating that the two of them would never forget the sacrifices that were made.

_Thanks for reading. Please review._


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